Results tagged “Camp” from GSSA Leader Blog: The Virtual Volunteer

A beautiful fall
afternoon at Kamp Kiwanis is about as good as it gets. As a child, one of my
favorite memories of Girl Scouting was our annual troop trip to KK. And if you don't believe me, I have a picture
of second-grader Karlyn with my troop in front of one of the Pioneer Unit tents
sitting in my office!

I spent last
Sunday at this special place watching girls sail, zip line, canoe, and
generally have a fabulous time. The
weather was fine and the blue water of Lake Martin simply sparkled. It reminded me of the precious times to be
had at our four camp properties, each of which has its own charm and character.

I want to
encourage you to seek out the beauty of Camp Scoutshire Woods in Citronelle,
with its wild magnolias, pitcher plant bog, and spillway, which is the perfect
place to play. Camp Sid Edmonds in Bay
Minette has a fabulous lake and great facilities, particularly for those who
might be a little apprehensive about camping.
Meanwhile, Camp Humming Hills in Elba, our largest property, has miles
of hiking trails and you can even climb to the highest point in Coffee County!

We are lucky
to have such wonderful outdoor spaces for our girls, and I encourage you to use
them - even if it's just for a day trip.
We work hard to keep the prices reasonable for troops and will continue
to do so in the future. However, we must
balance this with an effort to make certain that the council is covering the
rising costs of maintaining these properties.

Starting this
week, we will have new pricing for day use and troop camping for our camp
properties. (Troops that made reservations before October
1 will use the previous rates.) These increases are quite modest, but will help
us ensure that we are able to keep our properties in good condition and that
they are safe for use by our girls and volunteers. It has been many years since GSSA increased
its camp usage fees, so we hope you will understand the need for us to make
this change.

I hope you
have a wonderful time in the outdoors this fall!

Tags:

I
was fortunate to have an opportunity to be up at Sail Away camp last week.This camp is a specialty camp that is
focused on sailing all week long.Because it requires higher-level skills, such as swimming and good strength,
it is intentionally a camp for older girls.It isn't often that I get to observe our older girls in action.But this was an especially gratifying
experience.

When
you sail you don't move to your destination in a straight line, you tack, which
is back and forth, zigzagging, rather than directly. You have to rely on the wind, or lack of
wind to move you to your destination, so arrival is not necessarily in your
hands solely. You also have to work to
get to your destination; sailing is an active sport, not passive. You are always looking for the wind and
determining your next move in relation to the shifts in the wind.

What
I observed was a group of girls who were highly skilled. There were a few younger ones, working with
the Sunfish, which has only one sail, so in some ways it is harder to deal
with. They were doing a great job
working their way along the edge of the cove to move out into the more intense
wind of the length of the lake.

There was another larger group of more experienced girls, who were working on
rigging the larger boats with two sails.
Once rigged, those girls quickly tacked out to get into the big air of
the lake to sail.

It was amazing to watch. These girls
were skilled, self reliant, resilient, and knowledgeable. They were good about listening how to rig
the boat, then proceeded to rig their own.
From there they took action.
They were told what to do, watched, and then managed to take care of
their own boat and they were on their way.
They illustrated their confidence, their ability to think in action, and
make adjustments.

If you ever wonder about the quality of the leadership skills that being a Girl
Scout imbues, watch these girls sail.
They exhibited many leadership qualities. They were able to put together many
leadership skills to hone a skill they will possess for a lifetime. Although sailing might be a metaphor for
later life, sometimes we can't take the direct route, our path is indirect and
fraught with unanticipated challenges.
But after watching these girls, it is clear they have benefitted from
honing their leadership skills and will have capabilities they can apply to
life's challenges.

Tags:

As
I sit here writing, there is a slight breeze off Lake Martin, although the
humidity is pretty high today.This is
the best office in the world. I spent 30 years in higher education in a
basement office with no windows, so you have no idea how much I have enjoyed my
summer offices in the woods.

As
I write this, I see girls standing on stand up paddleboards, kayaking in the
slough, now with skills they did not possess when they arrived. Some didn't want to try the stand up
paddleboards, but summoned the courage to give it a try. Now they can paddle around without ending up
in the water, but seem to enjoy falling in, too.

There's
another group in the Sawyer-Weil Pavilion, singing songs with different hand
motions, while some are working on making lanyards. The song floats across the water and through
the woods.

There's
the whirrrrrrr of the zip line running.
Girls are donning their helmet, putting on the harness, getting
connected to the lanyard and experiencing a thrilling rides down the line. Some are concerned about taking that step
off the platform, but these girls have courage, so they will try it.

Away
from where I sit, there are girls learning to swim. Many come to camp and can't swim. I learned to swim in a murky lake. It is
hard to put your face in a body of water where you cannot see your feet, but
they do it. They learn how to swim, how
to get out to the floating dock, and how to have confidence in the water.

These
girls have slept with spiders in their tents, hiked around camp in the dark,
lived with mosquitos and other bugs, and heard noises by sleeping in the
outdoors they have never heard before. They
have cooked their own food in the outdoors, sat at a campfire, and learned
songs to hike by. They have become more
independent. They have done what a very
small percentage of the population does, learned outdoor skills and how to live
in the woods. What a wonderful
gift. I'm fortunate to meet many older
women who talk about how learning to camp and these experiences changed
them. They still value this experience
at the end of their lives, so what seems to just be "a week at camp," will be a
memory that will last a lifetime.

Tags:

It
is week 2 of resident camp, and I am surrounded by giggles, learning lashing,
watching swimming lessons, and the canoeing is about to begin.Each year, I'm struck by the value of camp
for girls.We are emphasizing outdoor
skills this year, so girls are learning to build fires, outdoor cooking, and
other survival skills.These skills
will last a lifetime.

I'm
always stunned and amazed at what they will try, given just a gentle nudge and watching
kids do it. This includes putting your
face in the lake where you cannot see the bottom, working your way up on a
stand up paddleboard, going down a zip line, or spending the night in a tent. Although for us, some of these things seem
like no big deal, facing your fears can be daunting at that age. For some it is spiders, for others snakes
(I'm still no real fan of snakes), and for others it is the dark of the night
outside in a tent. It is always amazing
to see how they summon the courage to face down what scares them, confront it,
and become a confident skilled leader.
It is good to never underestimate the power of confidence built at
resident camp.

While others are spending their summer gaming, watching television, or texting,
we have a large group of girls who have gone cold turkey from their
electronics, and heard the bullfrogs and cricket frogs, cicadas, and birds
instead. They have hiked, learned about
the outdoors, sung songs, and become tomorrow's leaders.

Tags:

It
is spring time, and we are working hard to get ready for the summer camp season
while having lots of large camporees and end-of-the-year spring events for
troops.It is always a delicate
balancing act to get things done and accomplished between weekend visits from
girls.

Since I've received a lot of feedback recently about camps, I want to go
through some of what is going on at the different camp properties. We are fortunate to have four wonderful camp
properties, nicely spaced across the council footprint. Some of our properties are used very
heavily, while others are visited less than six times per year. Usage and wear and tear on a property does
dictate how much of the council's resources are spent on a property. Please understand that we don't have endless
financial resources to put into properties, so we have to be strategic about
what we spend and where we spend it.

This is the year of our ACA (American Camp Association) accreditation. This involves a notebook filled with
requirements that have to be fulfilled for a camp property to be
accredited. We go through this process
so parents are assured we hold ourselves to a high standard. We do ACA accreditation on the two camp
properties where we hold resident camp, Camp Scoutshire Woods and Kamp
Kiwanis. Accreditation automatically triggers
certain maintenance and repairs on each of those properties so they are as well
maintained as possible.

Just
as a reminder, mowing, weed eating, and working on roads with our heavy rains is
often where the ranger spends the most time.
This is always an ongoing issue and one that requires immediate
attention.

Kamp
Kiwanis - As you are aware if you have been to this property lately, we have a
new ranger, Mike Breshears. He is working to juggle several items that
need to be addressed at that property that have accumulated over time. Add to that, due to some bad storms, his
first priority was addressing some very large pine trees that came down in the
Mariner unit and around the property. Mike
has been juggling some items in the kitchen and dining hall that need
attention, while getting the camp property in better shape in general. His list includes addressing roof issues in
the Ranger bathhouse and the staff house.
There are electrical issues he has to attend to, as well. He also is working to make things easier for
the sailing girls by finishing the sail loft started at the Pioneer Unit. The Ranger's wood/repair shop (which is not
accessible to the girls) needs to be seriously decluttered which will take some
to clear. The two-year-old banana boat
for that property is not holding air, so we are discussing options, since that
is a very expensive item that has not held up with little use.

Camp
Scoutshire Woods - Currently, this camp property does not have a full-time
ranger. Jesse Malone has been covering
this camp, as well as Camp Sid. Scoutshire
has had a number of issues that have come about this spring that we are working
to get addressed as rapidly as possible.
There is a water leak in the line on the path between Echo Lake and the
frog pond. This necessitates running a
trench to determine where the break is and replacing the line. That work is about to commence. The line is broken in two places, so we have
been trying to juggle that with camporees on that property. Recently, the dishwasher felt the need to
simply die. We have been nursing that
piece of equipment along for many years, so we are discussing the installation
of a replacement. But the hot water
heater that feeds that dishwasher also isn't functioning well, so it is a
combination problem. We need to replace
the coils in the air conditioning unit in the dining hall, so that is
scheduled. We are working on electrical
issues around the camp and doing a lot of scraping showers and bathrooms of the
peeling paint and repainting, so lots of work going on there. Yesterday we discovered the camp tractor is
not working and in dire need of repair. That is an essential item. We plan to hire a ranger for that property
after resident camp is over. We are
discussing purchasing a couple of smaller stand up paddleboards for the girls
to try at summer camp.

Camp
Humming Hills - We have been experiencing a number of issues at this camp,
which is a little unusual. The field
lines for the septic system have been dug up, and we are working with a
contractor to replace the field lines.
We had an incident with someone going through a tent floor, so we are
working to address that. We aren't using
the lake at Humming Hills because of its murkiness, and the unused swim dock
was no longer safe, so we had it removed.
We dropped loads of rock to stabilize roads. A pipe under the road washed out in the
spring rains, so that needs to be stabilized.
That camp property is used the least of all the council properties.

Camp Sid Edmonds - Fortunately, we have had few maintenance issues at that
property. We installed a new air
conditioning unit at the Scott House earlier in the year. We have also done some other maintenance
work around that property, but generally it is in good shape. We had some concern about the size and
health of the trees on the 69 acres we replanted, so we have been watching
those closely.

So, if you ever ask yourself where does all that cookie money go, the list
above is a pretty good description of where it goes. Most of these items are expensive and
require qualified electricians, HVAC, plumbers, and foresters. The rangers can do many things, but often
problems require professionals for at least part of the solution.

Also, we had tried to supply toilet paper and
paper towels for our camporees. Sadly,
we will no longer do that. When it was
clear that more than a case of paper towels was taken recently, it seems more
prudent to ask each service unit to provide their own.

Thank
you, Jesse Malone, for coming to the rescue to serve as the ranger for two
camps for a few months. We appreciate
his commitment to the girls of this council.

Tags:

I'm writing this
on a Monday morning, following events at most of our camp properties all
weekend.We had girls doing all sorts
of things this weekend, but mostly they were learning while having fun.

It
is simply amazing to see so many people outdoors, working with girls to learn
about their environment and their world.
They honed their skills that will serve them for a lifetime and and got
to experience new things. There was
zip lining, canoeing, archery, horseback riding, sailing, tie-die, starting
fires, making a meal over an open campfire, s'mores, and a campfire to round
out the evening. The weather wasn't
quite perfect. Although the sun was warm, the wind was brisk and the evenings
chilly. But the girls and their mentors
integrated that into their weekend experience.

As
we have talked to girls who shared this experience, whether it was Camp Scoutshire
Woods, Camp Sid, or Kamp Kiwanis, everyone reported they had a great time. In fact, some that we talked to were wildly
enthusiastic about the weekend they had.
This is what fond memories are made of, and I have to think it was not
only the girls who had a memorable weekend.

Thank you to all who went to a lot of work and effort to make that weekend so
fantastic for so many. We appreciate
all you do to make the world a better place.

Tags:

The sixties
were an unusual period in the history of our country with civil rights, women's
movement, Viet Nam, and the beginning of technical growth.

This might also
be called the last series of a particular type of Girl Scout resident camp
scouting, the long period resident summer camp. Over time competition would
arise from camps for band, tennis, cheer leaders, computers and many other
subjects coming to the interest of young people.

Amid this time
frame there was Camelot, a magical name given to the camp sessions at Camp
Scoutshire Woods. Margaret Ellis was
named camp director of Scoutshire Woods for a three year contract which in her
own words meant, "the first year I won't know what to do, the second year
will go well, and the third year I'll think I know everything and it will be
time to leave."

While serving
as assistant camp director under Barbara Phillips, Ellis was known to say,
"lf l were king..." So when staff members returned for her first term
as director, they said, "OK, now you are the king. What are you doing to
do?" And thus her camp nickname became, The King.

At that time
Scoutshire Woods had 120 camper spaces. Ellis promptly took more than 120
reservations. "I oversold each session," she said. "Having
worked for an airline for 12 years, I knew there would be no shows." And
it worked, every time, each session, three times a summer, camp was completely
full. That hasn't happened since then. "One time we did end up with 121
campers," Ellis said, "But we found another bed in storage and set it
up."

Each session
began on Sunday afternoon and ran until the following week on Friday, lots of
days and nights to make new friends, renew the old, and learn new skills.
Church services were provided on the Sunday in the session. More about that
later.

There were four
units-Whispering Pines (Whispers) a cabin unit for the youngest of campers,
Innisfree, also cabins, for the intermediate age. The cadets and senior campers
were in tent units called Gypsy Glenn and Four Winds. And yes, there were nice
bath houses with showers. Many activities were offered: swimming, canoeing,
horseback riding, archery, crafts, overnighting away from the units, and
overnight canoe trips on nearby rivers.

Three healthy
and delicious meals were planned by dietician Marguerite George and served in
the pleasant Dining Hall. Campers handled the table waiting chores and clean
up. Singing was always a big part of the
meals. Flag raising and lowering took place every day, and a rest period after
lunch as this was lower Alabama summer weather and there was no air
conditioning. (Staff used to sneak into the walk in cooler in the kitchen.)

When Ellis took
over, the Catholic girls were taken to Mass in Citronelle, clad in Sunday
dresses. They did not like this return to civilization and a definite division
with the other campers was created. Those left at camp would hold a devotional
of some sorts. There was no unity of spirit. But Sundays became a highlight
when Ellis arranged to have a priest from Spring Hill College in Mobile come
and say a Folk Mass on the grounds of Scoutshire. Everyone was welcomed-in Girl
Scout dress uniform-and no one was turned away from the communion table.
(Jesuits at Spring Hill are known to be free thinking in such matters. Nobody
asked and nobody told.)

This was the
age of folk music and many of the counselors played guitars and banjos, and all
of them sang. The sound of this music echoed through the clearing and rose
above the pine trees which composed the "camp cathedral." This folk mass continued every Sunday as long
as Ellis was camp director and has proved to be one of the most memorable
activities of those camp days.

The first year
of Ellis' direction was the first time summer camp had ever been integrated.
Five girls of Cadet age were registered and the staff placed them in the tents
without any regard to the color of their skin. (Ellis, however, made sure her
daughter was in one of the tents with a black girl.) After several days it was
obvious things were not going well. A unit meeting was called and the campers
were asked to discuss any problems. The Afro-American girls said they were
unhappy because they had come to camp to be with their friends and they were
separated in different tents. At their request they were all moved to one tent
and camp proceeded happily the rest of the session.

Last night
ceremonies stay in nostalgic remembrance as well. Half-pint milk cartons were
collected from the dining room and the last night of camp as darkness fell,
campers put birthday-size candles in the cartons and floated them off the
swimming dock to sail into Echo Lake. Songs were sung and last times were spent
together and good byes said often with tears. (The following morning the canoe
instructor picked up the cartons from the lake in keeping with the Girl Scout
philosophy of always leaving a site cleaner than it was found.)

Taps were
played every night by Ellis' nephew, who was on staff as handy boy. The sound
of the bugle over the lake at bedtime is another memory most campers and staff
carry for a lifetime.

Older campers
who had passed swimming and canoeing skill tests were permitted to go on the
overnight canoe trips, about eight or ten canoes. Most of the boating and
waterfront staff went along. The Styx River in Baldwin County, and the Escataba
in Mississippi, with their calm water and sandy beaches for camping were among
the favorites.

Ellis vetoed
the Tombigbee River from the previous year when she was assistant camp
director. They discovered that a large commercial river with its motor boats
and barge wakes was no place for a canoe with no keel and teen age girls. The
canoe trip groups took tents, sleeping bags, and food and supplies needed for
over nights.

Have Girl
Scouts and other youth programs made any progress through the years? With all
the competition for the time of Girl Scouts, camp has been reduced to three day
events or a week at the most with many of the activities eliminated entirely.
And can you imagine today's camp director bringing along her husband who came
up from work in Mobile every night, two dogs and a four-year old son, who now
likes to brag he spent three summers at Girl Scout camp? (Her two daughters were Girl Scouts and
regular campers.) Or a priest allowing the Jewish campers to come to the
communion table? Things don't always change for the better.

Most staff
members returned year after year to spend ten weeks at Scoutshire Woods-one
week of pre-camp training, and three sessions of two weeks. Some counselors
remained for clean up after camp closed. (At that time Camp Seale Harris for
diabetic children held a camp session at Scoutshire after the Girl Scouts
finished their time.) The quality of the memories and friendships made during
the three years of the reign of "The King" cannot be found today.
Going on to nearly fifty years later, those girls of those summers continue to
be the best of friends meeting again frequently. One of them still volunteers
to do a program at camp every summer.

And why was it
called Camelot? The time when John F. Kennedy was president before his untimely
death was often referred to as Camelot. Some of the staff members picked up on
this and compared the glorious days of summer at Scoutshire Woods to it.

Don't let it be forgot,
that once there was a spot
For one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot.

Written by:
Margaret B. Ellis
Camp Director, 1968-69-70

Tags:

Spring
is in the air, and spring break is here or about to commence.I enjoy seeing what many of you do during
spring break.Most everyone that I see
photos of is enjoying the beauty of spring and the outdoors.Funny, I wonder if there is a correlation between
that and being a Girl Scout?I suspect
there is.I'm also struck by how so many
of you are people of action, not sitting on the couch much.Most of you are out with your kids spending
time investing in their fun.It is good
to watch and share in those memories.

We
have some great spring programs for the end of the school year. All look fun and like things I would want to
do. I want to remind you that the
annual meeting is at Kamp Kiwanis on Saturday, April 9. There will be an update of what went on last
fiscal year with the audit results and the annual report. We have a good day planned for girls and
adults.

We
continue to work to sell the excess cookie inventory. As an appreciation gesture, we will sell
cases of cookies for $25. This includes
mixed cases. If you have an interest or know of some businesses that would like
to purchase them as thank you gifts, please send Teri Eversole or Amy Murray an
e-mail. They are teversole@girlscoutssa.org and amurray@girlscoutssa.org.

Camp information is on the website, and we are working on camp sign up. As a reminder, for those who aren't quite
ready for a night in a tent, we do offer day camp for those girls who want to
come home. I know each year we have
some involved in softball and other sports activities, so for them day camp is
a good option. It should be a great
year at resident camp. We are going to
work on teaching lots of basic camping skills in addition to the program the
girls sign up for. As always, there is
financial assistance available, and that application can be found in the camp
materials at www.girlscoutssa.org/camp.

As
we think through the importance of this wonderful time of year, I want to let
you know how much we appreciate the hard work and care you put into being a
Girl Scout. Thank you. Enjoy this
beautiful spring!

Tags:

The
sun is shining through my office windows as I write this.There's a squirrel sitting on the bird
feeder eating something as the butterflies buzz around, summoning the
beginnings of spring.The breeze is
nice, and you can start to see the tree buds as I drive around the council
territory.Clearly, spring is in the
air and our thoughts are turning away from cookies and toward being in the
outdoors.

This
time of year I spend time with the rangers working through their needs, their
priorities, and things to get their camps ready for girls to reappear. They are always eager for the girls to
return to camp. Camp Sid Edmonds was
replanted in loblollies in one day. It's
amazing how quick it was. We had
someone working on the stumps there, so it is looking different than the last
time you saw it. I have not been up
there yet, but it is certainly on my short list of things to do. We have had a number of volunteers and
parents volunteer to do a workday at Kamp Kiwanis to get it ready for girls.

We
welcome a new camp ranger to Kamp Kiwanis.
Mike Breshears might be familiar to you if you are around the Montgomery
area. He has two daughters who are Girl
Scouts, and his wife, Caroline, is an active troop leader and ran our
Montgomery cookie pantry. We hope you
will welcome him as he works to address the many issues at Kamp Kiwanis. We have lost some very large pine trees
recently in some inconvenient places there.
Kudos to our Camp Sid Edmonds ranger, Jesse Malone, for managing his
camp and Kamp Kiwanis as we worked to hire a ranger. We had many wonderful
applicants for the ranger position and appreciate those who applied.

The rangers always prefer having girls on their properties. I have heard about some fun ideas for
camporees planned this spring. We also
have a great camp program planned; Tinker Bell is going to be working to build
camping skills while you attend resident camp.
These are skills you can use for a lifetime. It is worth it to check out the materials online. I have the opportunity to visit all our camp
properties frequently. If you like to
camp, consider taking your troop to one of the other council properties, each
property is beautiful in its own way and has something wonderful to teach
girls.

Hopefully,
after doing a lot of things with girls around financial literacy, you can turn
your attention to the outdoors and have some fun exploring what all there is to
offer.

Tags:

It
is always nice to be up close and personal with volunteers over a sustained
period of time. I have many
opportunities to interact with volunteers, but not over days or weeks. A shout out to the volunteers who were wonderful
and worked at resident camp this summer, doing all sorts of great things and
made camp that much better this year.
Rusty and Gwen Black, Caroline Breshears, Elizabeth Conner, Vivian
Martin, Tina Savell, and Dana Jones were so very helpful during the camp
season. Thank you for sharing your
gifts with the girls.

It
is always interesting during the summer to listen to the girls talk about their
troop experiences and Girl Scout experiences.
I am always amazed at the wide variety of experiences and adventures
these girls have with your planning and assistance. I found the girls at resident camp this
summer to have a high sense of exploration, confidence to get out of their
comfort zone, and knowledge about the natural world. I listened to some girls talk about different
types of bugs. We had another girl who
wore her cowboy boots because she was fearful of snakes. Then when PANDA had a small chicken snake,
she decided she would face her fears.
Later she told me she wanted to "kiss it" which we didn't let her
do. But the difference between hot boots to
thinking the snake was really cool convinced me of the capacity for girls to
grow and learn through these experiences.
Most of their Girl Scout experiences are within your trusty care.

As
the summer winds down and we start to turn our attention to fall it is good to
be reminded why working with girls pays such tremendous dividends. The girls I saw all summer were curious,
happy, brave, and inquisitive. Thank
you for all you do to make this possible for all the girls we have the
privilege of serving.

Tags:

We are on the other side of the hump on
summer. As in my youth, time seems to be
relative, with summer waning faster than the rest of the year. Where does the time go? Where does the summer go?

I have returned to the four walls of
my office to work, instead of my preferred office with no ceiling, walls, or
windows -- simply a chair, my laptop, and the sounds of summer fun at camp;
girls singing, laughing, playing, canoeing, swimming, zip lining, hiking and
having fun.

As an educator, there is nothing more
gratifying than watching girls have fun while learning. The hands-on, experiential learning that
camp provides is a great gift. It is wonderful
to watch older girls, who have been Girl Scouts throughout their lives work
with younger girls to show them what they have learned. They share their wisdom, knowledge, and
gifts with others and it is a beautiful.
Some of the skills they have been part of Girl Scouts for more than 100
years. New colors, new materials, and
new ways of work have made other longtime skills pertinent for today's
girls. My neon-colored paracord neck
lanyard for my glasses is evidence I'm cool.
The fun small kayaks the girls use quickly provide them with paddling
experience in a buoyant boat that makes canoeing in a larger aluminum canoe so
much easier. The stand up paddleboards
become an entre to windsurfing and other aquatic skills.

Some of what girls experience at camp will
be remembered for a lifetime. There are
new friends, new songs, new skills and thrills that make summertime so special.

Tags:

Some days at Camp were HOT. The temperatures may have been soaring, but you
couldn't tell by what was going on around me. From my "office" on a porch near Lake Martin, I saw so many girls growing and having fun.

I saw girls in the pavilion learning
new songs. Another group near the
tetherball were playing something akin to Marco Polo on land. Behind me the whir of the zip line continued as girls tested their mettle by giving it a try.
In the cove, there was a group taking out the sailboats for the first
time. The temperatures were high, but
you could not tell by the girls I was surrounded by -- all making the best of their
summer vacation having a ball.

Camp has been great this summer. The camp staff has been excellent! The food has been incredibly good. One of the staff noted that the food is so
good we have not seen hardly any homesickness, because there is a direct
relationship between comfort food and feelings of home and safety. Amanda, our new staff member who is running
camp, has brought some fun new ideas and traditions to the experience.

We have worked hard to assure girls are
learning skill building in all their activities. They can play some, but canoe time is
getting into the water, learning to swamp the canoe and developing others
skills. Just in case you missed it on our social media, the girls had a contest
at Camp Scoutshire Woods between two groups under the swamped canoes singing
Crazy Moose. It is hilarious! We were
discussing how quickly girls pick up skills if provided the opportunity to give
things a try. We had the Sunfish out
this afternoon, and the instructor was stunned how a couple of the girls were
rapidly proficient by just watching and listening to the instructions. Girls are simply amazing!

On one day, I was over at the swim dock
taking some video of the girls in swim lessons. The lifeguards said in a couple of cases
they weren't sure one or two of the girls would progress. But with sheer determination and hard work,
one in particular is really becoming a proficient swimmer. The staff was amazed and delighted.

We work very hard to return your camper as a girl who has become more
independent, proficient, and confident.
They have had fun, but they have also established some skills that will
stay with them the remainder of their lives.

Tags:

My
office has sunlight peeking through the pine, there are some bugs around,
mostly ants. As I write this, I can
hear the girls behind me working on getting through a spider web exercise
requiring communication, cooperation, and teamwork. This is when being the CEO of Girl Scouts of
Southern Alabama has maximum benefit.

So
far the homesickness has been minimal, the giggles and singing constant, and
the food pretty good. The girls have
been on horseback, racing around the island in their kayaks and canoes, and
working on improving their swimming skills.

The girls who did the sampler camp have gone home, but many did not want to
leave because they were having such a good time. This is what we love to hear -- that the fun
and some autonomy from their parents is welcome. It is always good to have your daughter be confident
and independent.

We have talked about whether Girl Scout families would like an opportunity to
come up to camp and enjoy what the girls experience. We discussed having a week or two each
summer where we would have the waterfront and canoe area available and folks
could come up with their families and have some fun. That means you would have to manage your own
cooking needs, but something we were discussing. If you think you would like to do this,
please send us an e-mail at communications@girlscoutssa.org.

Tags:

As we say goodbye to one of our program staff,
Amy Farrar (camp name "Sunny"), who has done a great job at summer resident
camp and programs, we welcome Amanda Abercrombie. Amanda comes to us with
program and camp experience from Girl Scout councils in Mississippi and Tennessee.
Our fantastic program staff has been developing camp programming
throughout the cookie program, and Amanda has jumped right in! We
anticipate another fun summer this year!
Please check our
website (www.girlscoutssa.org/camp) to learn more about our summer camp
sessions.

Amanda
was happy to answer some questions so we can get to know more about her.

What do you hope to bring to your role as STEM
and Outdoor Program Manager?

I hope I can translate my love, knowledge, and
appreciation for outdoors, camp, and STEM into fun and exciting programs that
will capture the girls' interest and inspire them to want to continue to learn
more.

What's your favorite part of camp life?

My favorite part of camp is the camaraderie that
is fostered in a camp environment. Camp is a very unique environment that
encourages fast friendships that can last a lifetime. Additionally, I
enjoy the comfortable atmosphere that comes with working at camp. At camp
you are encouraged to be a version of yourself that you don't always get to
show in the seriousness of everyday life. Camp is the only place I know where it is perfectly acceptable to run around in a pirate hat, sing
camp songs as loudly and off-key as possible, walk around all day smelling like
campfire smoke, and still have the respect/admiration of your campers and
fellow staff members.

What do you want girls to take away from their
camp or outdoor experience?

My main goal is to help girls grow on the
inside by being outside. Camp, as well as other programs, is a wonderful
opportunity for girls, staff and volunteers to grow and expand, not just their
knowledge of the outdoors, but their confidence, self-esteem, and comfort
zones. I feel that everyone who comes to camp or participates in a
program takes something away from the experience and with each year they build
on the foundation of the year before.

Tags:

Why send my
daughter to summer camp?That's a great
question, and one we're often asked.

There seem to
be a couple of schools of thought in our Girl Scout family. One is that all children should be sent to
camp. It provides skill development,
enhances independence from parents, and builds confidence. This is the traditional thought about camp
-- that being outdoors, away from parents and siblings teaches kids to develop
skills. And it does.

The other school of thought is the prevailing one of more cautious
parents. They either didn't have a good
camp experience or no camp experience, so they aren't comfortable allowing
their daughter to attend camp without them.
They also worry she won't have a good time. And because we don't allow cell phones,
there isn't any contact, which may heighten their anxiety and worry. I ask lots of girls whether they are going
to camp. I hear plenty of them respond
because their parents don't want them to.

We have created
a day program for those whose parents aren't comfortable with them being away
from home with the day camps. We take
girls up to camp in the morning and return them each evening. This proved to be a good experience for the
girls who tried it last summer. We
learned some things through this experience, so we plan on that being a great
opportunity for them. We also have the
shortened session for those younger girls who want to give camp a try, but a
week is just too long. Look for the
Brownie Sampler as the one for your daughter who wants to give it a try.

Each summer I'm
fortunate to watch girls learn how to ride a horse, learn to swim, hike on
trails and identify parts of their world, and giggle and have a great
time. There's the occasional moment of
homesickness, but we work to keep the girls busy so they don't have time for that.

Girls have fun
at camp. They learn they can do things
they didn't believe they could, whether that is sleep in a tent or cabin,
confront a spider, put their face in a murky lake, or navigate to the bath
house after dark. Girls build
confidence at camp. I watch it every
year, whether that happens at the swim dock, on a zip line or in a tent it is
simply amazing to watch.

Girls spend
lots of time at camp talking to one another, making new friends, learning
songs, and some days just being silly.
Because they don't have access to electronics they learn to savor the
silence, listen to the sounds of the outdoors, and understand who they are
without their parents readily available.
I'm always gratified and amazed to watch even the meekest girl exhibit
the character she possesses in this context.
Last year one of the smallest of the girls I watched one day was the
most intrepid.

It takes
courage to send your daughter to camp and for her to go. Last year we had a number of girls who had
so much fun their first week that they returned for more, or went from Camp
Scoutshire Woods to Kamp Kiwanis for another week in a different location. Most earned badges and patches. Many made some great crafts. Almost all learned more about swimming and
canoeing or tried a stand up paddle board.
Some mastered horsemanship, while others learned to survive in the
woods. I was at camp every day last
summer, and it was only occasionally that I witnessed a girl not having a good
time or homesick.

As you consider what you want your daughter to learn, offer her an opportunity
to learn what happens in the great outdoors. It is simply amazing!

Tags:

It seems hard
to believe that it's already time to start planning for resident, but it
certainly is.We have reviewed the
comments from girls, had some discussions, and now we are working on what to
offer for next summer's resident camp sessions.To remain aligned with GSUSA, we are
continuing to focus on core outdoor skills.It is a return to some of the long held and cherished values of the Girl
Scout program.Since we don't know what
outdoor badges will be offered, we are working to focus on all those program
opportunities girls voted on for the 2015 program.

To answer our most often asked question, yes, we will continue to offer the
horse program. We will also continue to
offer swimming lessons, so girls can increase their confidence and abilities in
and around the water. In a state that
has lots of water, it is important for girls to have swimming skills and
confidence around those skills. Day
camp worked for a number of girls who didn't want to spend the night, or their
parents weren't comfortable with it. We
had some great successes there with a number of girls returning for a resident
camp session, so we will offer day camp again.
Brownie Sampler is another great way to introduce your daughter to camp
if you are concerned about the length of a full session. Leadership camp will also be returning as
part of the program.

One of the
interesting things I have learned the past few years is that girls who have
attended camp for years don't necessarily possess some of the outdoors skills
we might expect. Few know how to build
a campfire, for example. Outdoor
cooking skills are somewhat limited. We
have done a great job with survivor skills, so GPS, compass, and some of the
outdoor hiking skills are good, but others have not been part of the
program. Our current thinking is we
will work to integrate more of those into the program for all girls.

My own foray
into Girl Scouts was serving as the assistant director of a summer resident
camp, so I understand and resonate with the values camp provides. Last summer Karlyn Edmonds, COO, and I were
able to spend our summer at resident camp.
What a tremendous gift that was.
We were able to see on a daily basis girls who were not deterred by
their size, their skill level, their anxiety, or their fear. One day I watched one of the smallest girls
in her group take on the task at hand, master it, do it well, and then show her
friends how to do it. It was simply
amazing to watch.

As we work to shape the summer program, we are in search of girl input. If your daughter or troop has thoughts about
the camp program, please contact us at communications@girlscoutssa.org.

Tags:

I
spend a lot of time, as does COO Karlyn
Edmonds, working with the rangers to make
sure the camp properties are the best we can provide with our finite financial
resources.

I
was talking to one of them awhile back who said someone told him being a ranger must be the best job in the world, to have the views and the
opportunities. His response was that yes, he likes his job, but he
doesn't get to enjoy it in the same way those of you who go up to camp do. He looks around and sees nothing but
work. There's always more to do. There's grass to be cut and trimmed. There are building issues where the list is
simply endless, even though he is working on it all the time.

One
night when I was up at camp, I couldn't sleep and was thinking
through how many buildings GSSA uses.
GSSA has 36 buildings and 36 bathhouses, for a total of 72
buildings. This many buildings require a lot of maintenance. Just think of the
number of roofs when it comes to that. We also have more than 700 acres to maintain.
This 700 acres has six lakes, five of which we care for.

I want to
introduce you to the new Camp Scoutshire ranger and his wife, Chuck and Leigh
Norris. They come to us from the Isaac
Creek Campground where they have worked for more than five years. They are in the process of moving into the
house at Camp Scoutshire Woods. Leigh
enjoys mowing, so I have seen her on the mower every time I have been up to
camp.

I
wanted to give kudos to Jesse Malone, the Camp Sid Edmonds ranger. Jesse spent the entire summer at Camp
Scoutshire Woods. We have been
struggling with a water leak from the winter months that would just not
stop. After hours of work and blown
gaskets galore, we finally found out the water
pressure at Camp Scoutshire Woods was double what it should have been. No wonder we could not get the water to stop
flowing.

Jesse
has spent the summer and now into the fall working diligently at Scoutshire
almost daily with the ranger. He has
replaced toilet innards, showerheads, cleaned up the kitchen, and used a
bulldozer to grade where we have chronic erosion issues. They have really worked on the craft hut,
grading the front entry, replacing all the screens and getting the sink to
work. Frankly, I have never seen
Scoutshire look so good. If you are up
there in the near term and see Jesse, thank him because you can't pay people to
care the way he has for the properties so girls can have a great time on them.

We also were up at Camp Humming Hills
recently. The pine forest is coming
along nicely. I was pleased that most
of the trees planted are now over the top of my head. They look very healthy and sturdy, which is
always good given how much wind whips through that area on a regular basis. I'm always awestruck at why someone would
build a swim dock in the manner they did at Humming Hills. I had always figured it was dilapidated
instead of being built in a way that looks like something out of a Halloween
distortion experience.

Finally,
at Kamp Kiwanis we are about to build a small observatory up there. We have a benefactor with some restricted
funds who wanted the funds used to honor a deceased Girl Scout. We will be working on that project through the winter.

If
you are up at camp, do take the time to meet the ranger and thank him for all
he does. I recognize not everything
works all the time, however, it isn't because these staff members aren't doing
their job. And yes, they have great
jobs, but never underestimate how much
work maintaining those properties can be.

Tags:

My view is of girls learning
skills with boats and paddleboards,
learning to swim, singing new songs, hiking trails, making all sorts of crafts,
and managing bugs and spiders in their living quarters.

Last week, they had a Native American
storyteller and were spellbound by the wonderful stories. Another day, they heard a paleontologist
speak. Then there was a herpetologist from
Auburn University, who brought her frogs and toads. They knew a lot about frogs and toads
already, but she let them see their spade feet, or the bumps on their
back. They learn so much while having
fun.

One of the facets of Girl Scouts I appreciate
most is that girls can learn by doing.
They can collect bugs and create their own living environment. The things they see and experience can be
applied when they return to school in the fall. In the meantime, they have been outside
listening to birds, seeing the fish, and experiencing a lake. I've not heard one mention that she misses
the television, a cell phone, or the Internet.
Music at camp is made from nature or the girls that inhabit it. They do mention they miss their family, but
only occasionally.

We are on a learning curve with the day campers. My notion of victory here is that those
girls will want to attend resident camp next year. So far, we have had a number of them say
they do. At the end of the day as our
drivers talk to them, they discuss the fun they had. This was the first year for the day camp,
and we had some early hiccups, but I believe we have determined it is worth
offering again. We have had a number of
girls who had so much fun their first week that they returned for a
second. This is another victory.

Every day I take a photo of my new office and send it to my friends, calling it
"my office today." Every one of them
expresses jealousy because they can see from the photos the fun the girls are
having. Please check out the fun at our
Flickr.com account on line, share in the joy the girls are having in the outdoors.

Tags:

One of the great things about what I do is
getting to know some of the girls we have the privilege of serving.Spending the summer at camp has provided me
with a good opportunity to meet some of the great staff we have.I spent 30 years working with college
students at a university, so I was delighted to spend some time with the summer
camp staff during their training.Since
then, I've been watching them interact with the campers, which is a beautiful
thing.

Many of these girls have gone to camp in our
council and are the product of your hard work and efforts. They are leaders. I see them teach, counsel, correct, nurture
and work with their charges. The girls,
in return, follow them around, look up to them, and find role models to
emulate. It's something I wish you
could all witness, because it proves the power of what a girl can do. And the time you invested in these girls
proves it was time well spent.

These girls laugh, sing, hike, swim, paddle, and eat with our camper girls. And I can assure you they sweat with these
girls. Last week,
I was sitting down from the rec
hall at Scoutshire,
trying to get some work done and someone I was with noticed there was a black
snake at the steps of the building. We
checked it out, and decided it was a rat snake or maybe a black racer. There was a group of Brownies just coming
out of the water from boating, so we asked them if they wanted to see the
snake. They all said they did,
so we let them walk where they could see it, but not too close. No one shrieked, ran, or did anything that
indicated they were afraid of it. The
whole interaction with the counselors, the girls, and watching the snake was
amazing. Girls in the woods who go to
camp tend to appreciate the beauty of the nature that surrounds them, soaking
in all that the great outdoors has to offer.

Tags:

From
Scoutshire Woods...My office today overlooks Echo Lake, where one unit is
kayaking, another is serenading me with camp songs from the rec hall, and yet
another is out on the dock in the middle of the lake diving in.What could be better?The birds are singing; there's a bullfrog
croaking in the frog pond; the occasional cricket frog tunes up; and there's a
stunning monarch butterfly flitting near me.

This
is the first time since I've been here that I felt that I could afford the time
to be up here to enjoy summer camp. What a mistake. I come up during breakfast, check on the
girls and the staff, then come to my office on the edge of Echo Lake and turn
on my laptop. This is absolutely the
best part of what I do -- listen to girls giggle as they fall from stand up
paddle boards, probably intentionally, swim from the dock in the middle of the
lake to the swim dock for the first time, or work on camp songs that they will
remember for a lifetime.

This
week of camp has been a great one. Of
the more the 80 girls here, I have seen only one who has a serious attitude
problem. She doesn't want to do
anything. She announced to the staff
the first day she planned on not having a good time. I'm sure if you plan not to have a good
time, you won't. The rest of the girls
watched for the first half day, and then proceeded to go about trying
everything camp has to offer.

Some
days it is hysterical to watch. They
are becoming more adept at actually sweeping the dining hall after they eat
(rather than simply pushing the dust around!).
Many have tried the stand-up paddleboards, and their performance is
pretty impressive. Some who started
afraid of the water can now put their face underwater, and some can swim. What a wonderful thing. The sound of giggling comes from all parts
of camp.

I'm
very pleased with the day camp option.
This week we have only had one girl, but she arrives early and tries to
be away from her drivers at the end of the day so she won't have to leave. That is a victory. We had hoped to attract
some of those girls for resident camp to have the full experience.